what type of live rock for reef?

[CleverBs]

I'm starting my reef tank and deciding what type of rock I should get. The mondo rock is amazing looking rock but pricy. Fiji is nice but nearly as much both about 6$ per lb. My question is what would be better for a reef tank? Regardless of the kind I go with ill be getting 22-25 lbs of it then adding 15-20lbs of dry rock.

[rdnelson99]

First off, I have a question for you. Are you patient? If so, just get a small amount of live rock and the rest base rock. You could even do it with nothing but base rock. The more live rock you have the quicker you will cycle but it also gets very expensive.

The biggest key to rock is how pourous it is. The more pours it has the more area for the bacteria to grow. Other than that, go for what looks the best in your eyes. After all, it is your tank. Oh, and one last thing.....we expect pictures.

[CleverBs]

Well I love the mondo rock but don't know how great corals will do on it. I'm only a bit patient that's why I'm going half and half. Also because my live rock from my lfs suck and cost 10-17$ per lb and I'm not paying that.

[Tomchong22]

If you really want to save $ you can diy your base rock then get "live rock show pieces" to cover. That is what I did, made about 100lbs of rock for prob 30 bucks.

[CleverBs]

I can't do DIY things like that I am all about having my tanks as natural as I can and it would drive me crazy to know something was fake. My own personal ocd. Honestly I wish I could deal with fake things but I found out I can't unfortunately for my wallet (and girlfriend)

[Tomchong22]

Base rock and such from a lot of companies are man made. Saves a lot of money. So in all reality most rock is "fake"

[kwaenz]

You could try Reef Saver Rocks from BRS, its pretty cheap but it doesnt have any life form in it. its either you seed it or let em cycle on its own. they look pretty good actually.

[SwimsWithFish]

What I would do for looks is get some base rock, make your formation, then cover in beautiful live rock. Corals will grow on any rock.

[CleverBs]

Well I really don't want Fiji rock its kind of ugly imo so I think ill go with 30lbs or mondo rock it cost a bit more but I think it would be worth it. I just don't like the idea that the dry rock will never match it quite right. My lfs sells Marco dry rock for 2.60$ per lb and I'm thinking when I upgrade my tank ill go with dry rock and just use the 30lbs of live rock to seed it.

[SwimsWithFish]

That sounds good! I'm not much of a fiji person either. It's nothing special.

[CleverBs]

I got 20lbs of dry marco rock today from my LFS I decided i will be patient and save myself like 100$ and put it to a better light system. Im just going to get 10-20lbs of live fiji rock and hide it beings I like the looks of the marco rock better then FIJI and just let it spread its life to the Marco rock.

[CleverBs]

Should I get the 16lb Nano rock pack from Liveaquaria for my 29gallon? I feel that it would be nice to have some smaller peices to make a unique aquascape. Or should I get 22lbs of the normal sized fiji rock?

[Tomchong22]

I would say normal size. If you want smaller you can always brake it into smaller pieces.